Pune, Dec 16 (IANS): U Mumba registered a thrilling 42-40 victory over Patna Pirates in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10. The Iranian all-rounder Amirmohammad Zafardanesh was in the thick of things with 13 points in the game.

Speaking about his performance, U Mumba Head Coach Gholamreza Mazandarani said, "Zafardanesh will need time to mature as a player. He will learn from his mistakes and get better. He's a very intelligent player and he's a future Pro Kabaddi League star."

The U Mumba Head Coach further spoke about his prime focus this season, "My main focus is to help the youngsters in the team. They are getting better with every game that we play. We currently have three young players — Zafardanesh, Visvanth and Sombir — in our team. I am going to play the other youngsters in the side as well as we progress through the tournament."

Mazandarani also said that U Mumba's defence unit has to improve for the team to have a better chance of winning matches, "Our defence unit certainly needs to get better. Our raiders are doing very well and we have good raiders on the bench as well. So if our defenders play better then we'll win games with larger margins."

The Patna Pirates will be looking to bounce back after two consecutive defeats when they take on Jaipur Pink Panthers on Sunday, meanwhile, the Panthers will be looking to attain momentum after an up-and-down start to the season.

U Mumba will be hoping for Amirmohammad Zafardanesh to continue his brilliant form when they take on Tamil Thalaivas, however, the side from Tamil Nadu is high on confidence after pulling off a gripping victory against Telugu Titans in their previous encounter.